First Independent

First Independent (Ukrainian: Перший незалежний) was a Ukrainian information television channel. It was formally established on 1 November 2019, although the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting had issued its broadcasting licence earlier, on 17 January 2019. The channel was registered as a Lviv regional channel, but its broadcast and studio operations were built in Kyiv. Its initial head and owner was Roman Lyubytskyi, a former general producer of the NTA channel. For its first two years the channel did not operate as a full-fledged news broadcaster; it broadcast intermittently, and when it did broadcast, its content was produced by only three people from Lyubytskyi's circle. Observers believed the channel was created primarily for resale. In February 2021 the channel was bought by the leadership and journalists of the banned channels of the Novosti media holding, which belonged to Verkhovna Rada deputy Taras Kozak of the Opposition Platform — For Life party. The purchase from Roman Lyubytskyi was completed on 25 February 2021, and the channel was relaunched the following day at 18:00. Around 100 employees from the Medvedchuk-associated channels moved to First Independent, creating a company with a charter capital of 100 hryvnias. On 26 February 2021 the head of the company owning the channel's trademark changed from Lyubytskyi to Pavel Yegorychev, director of Novy Format TV and head of TV Vybor, both part of Kozak's Novosti media group. The channel was linked to Taras Kozak and to the politician and oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who was widely regarded as its informal owner through Kozak. After the sale, Lyubytskyi said he had no relationship with Novosti Media Holding or the employees of Medvedchuk's channels. The relaunched channel faced immediate distribution problems: on 26 February 2021 its team reported that satellite broadcasting had been switched off, and on 1 March 2021 the IPTV/OTT/cable distributor Lanet terminated its cooperation agreement because of the change in the channel's ultimate beneficiary. On 28 December 2021 at 23:36 the satellite version, which carried news stories with voice-over narration, was switched off on the Astra 4A satellite. In the night of 4 February 2022 YouTube deleted the channels of First Independent and UkrLive, along with ZIK, NEWSONE 112, Ukraine First Independent and all information platforms of the LNR and DNR. The channel is no longer active.

First Independent was formally created on 1 November 2019, although the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine had issued its broadcasting licence on 17 January 2019. It was considered a Lviv regional channel, but its broadcast and studio were set up in Kyiv. On 1 November 2019 the channel began satellite broadcasting in a news-story format with male and female voice-over narration. Its head and owner was Roman Lyubytskyi, a former general producer of the NTA channel. During its first two years the channel effectively never worked as a full-fledged information television channel and was probably created solely for later resale. It periodically stopped working altogether, and when it did work, before the resale in February 2021, all of its content was produced by only three people from the circle of then-owner Roman Lyubytskyi, likely so that the channel would broadcast something and not be switched off by the National Council on TV and Radio. After the sale to Medvedchuk in February 2021, those three people who had produced content for it no longer had any connection to the work of the reformatting channel. On 25 February 2021 the leadership and journalists of the banned television channels of the Novosti media holding, which belonged to Verkhovna Rada deputy from the OPZZh party Taras Kozak, acquired the channel from Roman Lyubytskyi and relaunched it the next day at 18:00. On 25 February 2021 the Svoboda party noted the inadmissibility of cooperation with collaborators and informed that Lyubytskyi had been expelled from the party. On 26 February 2021 the head of LLC Time Media, which owns the channel's trademark, changed: instead of Lyubytskyi it became Pavel Yegorychev, director of LLC Novy Format TV and head of LLC TV Vybor, both part of the media group LLC Novosti Media Holding of Taras Kozak. The channel, like the other channels from which its former journalists came, is linked to Taras Kozak and to another politician and oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk. After the sale, former owner Roman Lyubytskyi stated that he had no relationship to LLC Novosti Media Holding or to the employees of Medvedchuk's channels. About 100 employees of Medvedchuk's channels moved to the channel, creating an LLC with a charter capital of 100 hryvnias. On 26 February 2021 the team of Medvedchuk's channels reported that the channel's broadcasting had been switched off on satellite. The same day, when asked by journalists about the legality of the channel's broadcasting, NSDC secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that bans were possible in the event of repeated violations. On 1 March 2021 the team of the Novosti media holding reported that the channel's broadcasting had been switched off by the IPTV/OTT/cable distributor Lanet. Lanet terminated its cooperation agreement with the channel due to the change in the channel's ultimate beneficiary. On 28 December 2021 at 23:36 the satellite version with voice-over narration of news stories was switched off on the Astra 4A satellite. In the night of 4 February 2022 YouTube deleted the channels of First Independent and UkrLive. ZIK, NEWSONE 112, Ukraine First Independent and all information platforms of the LNR and DNR were also blocked.

• National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting issues broadcasting licence to the channel.

• Channel formally created and begins satellite broadcasting in news-story format with voice-over narration.

• Novosti media holding acquires the channel from Roman Lyubytskyi; relaunch occurs the next day at 18:00.

• Pavel Yegorychev replaces Lyubytskyi as head of the company owning the channel's trademark; satellite broadcasting reported switched off.

• Lanet terminates cooperation agreement with the channel due to change in ultimate beneficiary.

• Satellite version switched off on Astra 4A at 23:36.

• YouTube deletes First Independent and UkrLive channels.

Ukrainian information television channel positioned as an independent news broadcaster, though widely associated with the Medvedchuk-linked media group.

• News television programming

  News stories with male and female voice-over narration broadcast via satellite.

• Svoboda party condemns cooperation with collaborators

• Lanet terminates cooperation over beneficiary change

Read more

• Acquisition by Novosti media holdingOther

• Change of head of trademark-owning companyOther

1. 1First Independent — Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Первый независимый — Википедияru.wikipedia.org